Who runs the ship in the future?

[Joey Hoser]

You can get hired for a position for a number of reasons.

I completely believe Shanny was sold on the idea of advanced analytics. He heard there's this kid who was GM of an OHL team at a young age. Shanny himself had no real track record making decisions with a hockey team, so he could have been duped or just actually believed in what Dubas was selling and maybe even saw potential in him. Remains to be seen if it was a good decision or not.

But he could have thought of Dubas as a POTENTIAL future GM, which doesn't really mean much of anything. It's like a kid being hired in a grad program at a major corporation assuming he will one day be CEO because the CEO says he liked some of his past work in his interview. A lot can happen over time, good or bad.

None of it points to Dubas being a qualified candidate to take over as GM. It doesn't mean he can't be a good choice one day, but in this type of debate, I would say the burden of proof rests on proving the candidate is qualified, and given the value of our franchise we shouldn't be just looking for qualified.

This is a debate in a which I was supposed to prove something? I don't even know what the topic is, I was just responded to your comment.

I can't prove that Dubas is going to be an exceptional GM. That's kind of a ridiculous expectation.

It's just that the mere fact that he was brought on board and has a reputation for being a bright young hockey mind, leads me to believe that some of that may be true, to some degree. That's not taking a leap or going out on limb, or assuming anything about his future.

 

[ACC1224]

Whoever said Holland, needs to think again..

Since Nill has left Detroit, they've been in shambles.

Look at their defense and look at their cap situation.

Some of those contracts are absolutely disgusting and they have who in the system to show for it?

Whoever says these things don't have a say in what will actually happen.

IF(and it may not happen) the day comes that they look outside to replace Lou Lam, you'd have to be pretty naive to think Shanahan and Babcock won't look to someone they are extremely comfortable with whether that is Nil or Holland or someone else.

How do you think Lou Lam ended up here in the first place?

 

[Menzinger]

I think folks are focusing too much on lou when it comes to the next GM - so far everything has flowed down from his vision of the team (including Lou being hired in the first place).

As for guys like Holland - Detroit has a mediocre prospect pool and is in a lousy position regarding capspace. Don't want him or Lombardi.

Would much rather a fresh candidate come in - be it Dubas or Hunter or even the next up and coming guy.

 

[MagicalRazor]

What did he do with the Hounds? They never won anything under his guidance.

I don't doubt he has a good mind for the game, but lots of people have that. The point is, what has he done to prove in the near term he's the right guy to lead the franchise? That's what I'm trying to get to. I've never heard a good answer to the question.

he turned a team that was at the bottom of the leauge into a top cotender over 3 years top notch team they went from winning 10 games a seaso losing only 10 games a sesson

 

[ToMaLe]

how can you not want that mobster walk at each draft for as long as possible? keep Lou as long as you can.

 

[The CyNick]

he turned a team that was at the bottom of the leauge into a top cotender over 3 years top notch team they went from winning 10 games a seaso losing only 10 games a sesson

That's much easier to do in a league like the OHL where your team turns over every two to three years.

At the end of the day, they didn't do anything to write home about in the playoffs. So really even at the OHL level, over a very small sample size, he had very limited success. You want to hand over the reigns of a team that could literally pick any executive in the entire league based on that? Yikes. We should be better than that.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

Leafs seem to do a lot of managing by committee. So Lou might be able to do the job as GM longer than most.

There was interesting tale of how Lou managed to do the the Phanuef trade with Bryan Murray. The inside knowledge and relationship was pivotal in that trade....no other Leaf executive could have done it.
And how he convinced Milachek? to waive his NTC, around the Milachek's kitchen table....only Lou.

And how Lou "hid" in the stands, watching Fredrick Andersson practising with the Ducks, convinced him that Freddie would be a good # 1, (of course their other reasons).

I just don't know if a youngster like Dubas could pull these type of things off. Eventually someone will have to be the new GM, but Lou sure had an influence on the makeup of the Leafs.